The coffee mug
An award ceremony. A scientist, also the awardee, was talking about the importance of thinking from outside the comfort zone; popularly, it is known as out-of-the-box thinking. He shared many examples which had helped him get to the bottom of the invention for which he was awarded. The discourse, followed by a standing ovation and a high tea, was to become a topic of discussion for a long time to come.
In between, when the scientist went home tired, he was desperately in need of a hot cup of coffee. For nearly an hour, he looked in vain at all the places his programmed mind could think of; finally, he gave up and settled for another mug.
The next morning, when he woke up and went to dust the Altars, as it were, he found the mug lying there. He was surprised to discover how, the night before while looking for the mug, his mind did not consider the altar as an option.
(@griffonner)Hi Supratik. I was wondering: Is ‘alter’ a colloquialism?? 😉
(@supratik)Didn’t understand, why’d you ask that? And why’d you spell it with an ‘e’; I meant altar, did I write anything wrong? Would you clarify, Allen?
(@griffonner)It is a typo. My apology, Supratik, I should have spelled it as you did. That was confusing wasn’t it? I think where my misunderstanding came from is the different in cultures: Had I been thinking more out of the box I would have realised and remembered that Altars are a common feature in Eastern homes. In English, the word ‘altar’ can be used colloquially as meaning a toilet. Now you see where I was coming from?
(@supratik)Yes, now I understand, clean the altar! 🙂 No, I didn’t mean any of that. The flash is to highlight the gap between what we practise and what we preach. A person, a scientist who talks of out-of-the-box thinking falls short of thinking that way. Most of us are like that. These management talks are more preached than practised. Since it is about the gap between practising and preaching I used Altars as an example. That said, I realised my mistake, I should have used it the correct way, I will rectify it. Thank you.